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By integrating concepts and methods from the fields of international relations and the sociology of public action, this article aims at contributing to the study of the state’s transformations by mobilizing an international relations approach to the sociology of the state. The relationship between the domestic and international dimensions of state capacity remains a blind spot in the literature. Based upon a wide range of primary sources (including 170 interviews), this study traces the evolution of the US “state capacity” in the post-Cold War era in a sector as sovereign as export controls on strategic goods under the impact of both domestic and international pressures. Through the prism of international relations, it is possible to contribute to the analysis of the state by providing a new perspective on the classical dichotomy of strong state versus weak state and on the concept of “state capacity”.